Video Tutorial
Why This Matters
When you ask an AI to generate an image or a video clip, the biggest challenge is usually not the tool itself. It is getting the prompt right. Vague prompts give you vague results. But if you describe the lighting, the lens type, the composition, and the color palette, you get something that looks like it was shot by a professional.
The trick is knowing those details in the first place. That is where ShotDeck comes in.
What is ShotDeck?
ShotDeck is a tool that breaks down real movie and TV shots into their core elements. For any shot, it tells you the color palette, aspect ratio, frame size, lens type, composition, and lighting. These are all things that cinematographers and photographers think about carefully when creating their work.
ShotDeck has a free version, so you can start exploring right away.
How to Use It for AI Prompts
Step 1: Find a Shot You Like
Go to shotdeck.com and browse through their library. You can filter by time of day, location, lighting type, and more. Find a shot that matches the look you are going for.
Step 2: Study the Breakdown
Click into a shot and look at what ShotDeck tells you about it. Pay attention to:
- Color palette: The exact colors used in the shot. You can screenshot these and share them with Claude or your AI tool.
- Lens type: Ultra wide, telephoto, or something in between. Each gives a completely different feel.
- Lighting: Top light, back light, under light. Each creates a different mood. Under light feels eerie. Back light feels dramatic.
- Composition: How the frame is set up, where the subject sits, and how much space surrounds them.
- Time of day: Day shots vs. night shots change everything about the tone.
Step 3: Turn It into a Prompt
Take those details and write them into your AI prompt. Instead of asking for "a photo of a person in a city," you now ask for something like "a telephoto shot of a person walking through a city at golden hour, warm amber color palette, shallow depth of field with a blurred background, soft back lighting."
You can also take a screenshot of the entire ShotDeck breakdown and paste it directly into Claude. Claude will read all the details and help you turn them into a prompt.
Step 4: Save Decks for Consistency
ShotDeck lets you save shots into decks. Build a collection of shots that match the visual style you want. This way, you have a consistent reference library whenever you need to generate new images or video clips.
Pro Tips
- Blur the background. AI generated images tend to look more authentic when you specify a shallow depth of field. This blurs the background and makes the subject pop.
- Name a director's style. If you want a specific cinematic feel, you can reference a director's name in your prompt. ShotDeck lets you filter by director too.
- Be specific about lighting. "Well lit" is vague. "Top lit with soft diffused light and a slight rim light from the left" gives you something stunning.
What You Learned
The secret to great AI images and videos is not a better tool. It is a better prompt. ShotDeck gives you the vocabulary of professional cinematography: lens types, lighting setups, color palettes, and composition styles. When you feed those details into your AI prompts, you get results that look intentional and polished instead of random.
